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GSi VB3m for Android!


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" .. I'd also be hesitant to assume anything about VB3m performance on a particular Android phone without trying (or hearing from someone who had tried) that specific model.

Roger Gentile from the Mojo Group is running VB3m without hiccup on a Samjung J7 Android phone. 2G of Ram. 2016/2017 model. So fairly old phone (by today's standards) yet it runs without a hitch. So I'm not concerned.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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Downloaded the android version to my samsung tab A (2016 version, android 6.0) and works great driving it from a usb midi controller (via a usb cable and OTG adapter).

 

-but my other controller is an aged Yamaha digital piano (5-PIN MIDI jacks only). So I connect the piano via a yamaha ux-16 midi/usb converter to the samsung tab A and I cannot get it to work! Am completely Stumped! Maybe the converter is the problem...after some research it seems a converter with android compatibility is rare?

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" .. I'd also be hesitant to assume anything about VB3m performance on a particular Android phone without trying (or hearing from someone who had tried) that specific model.

Roger Gentile from the Mojo Group is running VB3m without hiccup on a Samjung J7 Android phone. 2G of Ram. 2016/2017 model. So fairly old phone (by today's standards) yet it runs without a hitch. So I'm not concerned.

That would give me high confidence in selecting a Samsung brand, J7 or newer. I would just have been hesitant to extrapolate that to other brands, or to older models. But since there's no need to do that (these being available pretty cheaply), this sounds like a perfectly good way to go.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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my other controller is an aged Yamaha digital piano (5-PIN MIDI jacks only). So I connect the piano via a yamaha ux-16 midi/usb converter to the samsung tab A and I cannot get it to work! Am completely Stumped! Maybe the converter is the problem...after some research it seems a converter with android compatibility is rare?

I think the (discontinued) UX-16 may not be fully class compliant. I would think that pretty much any current model from a known brand should work, like Roland UM-One, or the one from iConnectivity. (But not the M-Audio Uno which is known to have an issue with some Yamaha keyboards.)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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On the subject of Yamaha, I connected a fairly old psr353 my drummer has to a powered hub that was not powered at that moment and my Samsung note 10+. To my surprise it worked. And the pilot light of the hub was lit so either the Yamaha or the Samsung was pushing power into the hub. So I'm not sure why any Yamaha with a class B usb port is being problematic. Instead of a usb interface try a lowly bestbuy usb 2.0 powered hub.

FunMachine.

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So I'm not sure why any Yamaha with a class B usb port is being problematic.

Yamaha's class compliance level varies. But regardless, in this case, his Yamaha does not have any USB port... it's 5-pin DIN only.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Both my Yamaha keyboards (P121 + CP73) have worked perfectly with my iPhone and iPads - Midi and Audio coming through the Apple CCK. FWIW it's probably always best to use official Apple connectors even though they cost a lot for what they are. Although that isn't the issue mentioned above :)

 

Possible bug and maybe on Guido's to do list: VB3m program mapping isn't working - it could be me because it's quite hard to tell whats happening. You have to leave the Program page and return to it to refresh it. Although the Organ page refreshes when it receives a PC which is nice.

 

I've been running it all day on an iPad Mini 2 (2014!) - Wifi only model.

Latency = 256

Controller = Nord E6D via CCK

Airplane Mode On- so WiFi and BT are off

Mini Jack out to Nord Mon In (mini jack socket which is convenient)

 

Very impressed, no clicks and feels and sounds good. Maybe this is just luck but I'm surprised how responsive it is.

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I found I was in the wrong mode on the Reface YC. It has midi control mode on/off. Off only sends note and velocity information. All the hardware controls were sending nothing, checked with a midi monitor android app. Turning on midi control mode makes the YC send all CC information as normal via the knobs and faders and also note information. Phew. The midi learn in the vb3m app all worked as instructions say. I had to set the range on the rotary lever to 0-75 to get all three positions to behave.
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What is the latency option supposed to do? Wouldn't the goal be to minimize latency? What does the option provide and what are pros/cons of enabling/disabling this option?

With most apps, if you're getting crackles in your audio, you can increase the buffer to get rid of them, at the cost of additional latency. Previously, the VB3m buffer size was fixed, at what the app determined was best. But if the app "guessed wrong" and you were getting crackles, there was no way to over-ride its settings. It sounds like he's added the ability to choose the setting that works for you, just as most other apps do, instead of locking you into the app's best guess. (In theory, this could also work the other way... you might be able to get by with a LOWER bugger/latency setting than what the app had guessed at, too.)

 

Downloaded latest v1.1 for iOS onto my 16GB iPad Mini Gen 4. Runs great, although I was still getting some of crackles that others have reported. Changing the buffer settings didn't seem to make it better or worse (they're just tiny little pops; almost unnoticeable if you've got the percussion click cranked way up, but they're there.

 

After fully-charging my iPad, and switching to a non-USB-powered controller, all my cracks and pops went away. :2thu:

 

And it turns out that my Reface CS makes a pretty darn good controller for VB3m. MIDI-over-USB thru the Camera Connector, and it has 13 sliders that send CCs, oriented conveniently in three groups: 2 â 9 â 2. Assigned 'Drive' and 'Rotary Lever' to the first two (again conveniently silk-screened as 'Depth' and 'Speed' on the CS), then Upper Drawbars 1-9 (inverted) in the middle, and Amp Select on the far right with one slider to spare. Plus, the CS has an expression pedal jack for the FC7, so plug that in â bada boom - bada bing â we"re rockin" Gimme Some Lovin" on the top of my new Legend '70s Compact. Hands down, this is the most fun I"ve ever had with a software instrument â hat"s off to you, Guido!

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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I just tried VB3m again on my Numa Compact 2x from my old Iphone 6s. After flipping the app's switch for inverting the drawbar midi cc's, VB3m worked great.

 

When I had some problems getting the Numa Compact 2x's drawbars configured a couple of days ago, I probably screwed something up because I was in a hurry to go for my second Covid jab.

 

I plan to try VB3m on my NE5d and SK1 over the next couple of days.

 

My take is that even though VB3m is not as robust / flexible as IK's B3-X, at a $14 price point, this may cause IK to drop its price for B3-X. Competition is good, especially for a cheapskate like me.

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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......................My take is that even though VB3m is not as robust / flexible as IK's B3-X, at a $14 price point, this may cause IK to drop its price for B3-X. Competition is good, especially for a cheapskate like me.

 

That would be great down here (Oz) it is at over $200 on the Oz app Store :freak:

 

EDIT: Sorry $199.99 (exchange rate must have dipped a bit :D

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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Keep in mind that VB3m isn't Vb3-ii, it's the original VB3 (1.4). It's still a bargain no doubt but it is a step backwards from the current version and isn't nearly as good as b3x

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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Keep in mind that VB3m isn't Vb3-ii, it's the original VB3 (1.4). It's still a bargain no doubt but it is a step backwards from the current version and isn't nearly as good as b3x

But it doesn"t need much CPU and I have always liked it - it has a certain mojoð. I think it"s a smart move to release a version that will run well on a large number of devices. I bought the PC/Mac version in 2013 and it was rock solid. I"ve been running it on my old iPad Mini 2 (A7 chip, 1Gb Ram, 2014) with latency set at 256 and also running Korg Odyssei at the same time. Glitch free, no crashes - I"m on day 3 of this setup. So hopefully any improvements will be minor and not push up the CPU requirements.

 

By comparison B-3x will only run on my Mini with high buffers and nothing else running. And that"s the thing about trying to use mobile devices and laptops. You have to be prepared to tweak. Stuff rarely works out of the box and then a new OS update comes out and it all goes Pete Tong. What"s attractive about mobile devices for music is that the Apps sound fantastic but with a few exceptions cost less than £20. BTW this website is handy for app store deals - https://appsliced.co/

 

I am running iOS 12.5 so there will come a time when it"s totally out of date. I would probably try and replace it with one from the Apple refurb store. But in the meantime any incremental updates shouldn"t affect performance. And that is another issue with newer iPads when Apple release updates you are hoping the developer will fix anything the update breaks. There are different flavours of Android too aren"t there? I think my Motorola was running Ice Cream Sandwich - great name!

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VB3m has been running great on my Pixel 4XL. Earlier this weekend, I was controlling it with a Korg micoKEY Air 61 and playing along with songs playing in the YouTube Music app on the same phone!

 

In other news, Guido's DK61 controller seems to be coming along nicely:

 

https://www.facebook.com/177045085822655/posts/1565131267014023/

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Has anyone successfully mapped the iOS VB3m controls to the Korg Kronos and might be willing to help me out? I noticed that the joystick defaults to control the rotary lever, but only acts as a momentary toggle. I would love at the least to be able to control the rotary effect from the Kronos front panel. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Bill

Nord Stage 3 Compact, Korg Kronos 61, Casio PX-5S, Yamaha DXR 10 (2)), Neo Vent, Yamaha MG82cx mixer and too many stands to name.
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Has anyone successfully mapped the iOS VB3m controls to the Korg Kronos and might be willing to help me out? I noticed that the joystick defaults to control the rotary lever, but only acts as a momentary toggle. I would love at the least to be able to control the rotary effect from the Kronos front panel. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Bill

I can't help with the Kronos but if Guido is reading this thread, I hope the option to latch a CC is on his "to do list" for the next version. B-3X lets you do it on all CCs but the option for the rotary in VB3m would be useful. That would solve your problem or you could use momentary switch like a sustain pedal instead.

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interesting results being posted in the clonewheel forum. Thought I'd share them. Various users are posting performance of different phones:

 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 has a lot of problems when it comes to usb audio interfaces. Tried it with the Behringer UCA222 ( like Max Tempia) and with an Steinberg U22. it doesn´t work. I did some research in the Internet as well. Samsung did something with this Series that messes with usb interfaces. So .. its a no go for the VB3m on a Samsung Note 10

 

Ipad: good

 

Samsung j7, Huawei p8 and iPad 6 all work great.

 

Samsung J6:poor

 

Archos tablet works great.

 

 

Also, here's a VB3m to VB3ii comparison. Marked improvement in the leslie with VB3ii, especially the horn. Also a marked improvement on the upper drawbars of the organ. different sounding organs...

 

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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It works good on my sam note 10. I do have updates shut down so I'm not on the newest android. Latency is a little bit of a factor. It's not as short as b3x on my ipad. But it is quite usable. All my peripherals work including a midi expression pedal port .

FunMachine.

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Interesting that even the different Samsungs have such different results (which again supports my thought that going iOS gives you a more consistent, predictable platform, as well as one with more potential for other possible musical uses)... but as long as you choose an Android device that has already been shown to work well, and VB3m is all you want to do, Android fans (or Apple non-fans) at least have viable options. But yeah, I really like that PC version better. I wonder what would be the cheapest PC tablet you could find that would run VB3-II well. Maybe something like a 1st-gen Surface Pro could even handle that.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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" ..I wonder what would be the cheapest PC tablet you could find that would run VB3-II well. Maybe something like a 1st-gen Surface Pro could even handle that..."

I'm guessing Guido probably took a shot at VB3-ii and found performance issues which is why he is going with the original engine; yet uses pieces of the VB3-ii UI. For $15, it's worth the price of admission alone. Not only that, but he found a use for your old phone as well....

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

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Guido is full of surprises, a dual manual organ controller that apparently has a form of VB3 built into it as it has audio outs... always a caveat, 49 keys rather than 61, but I could work with 49, i only have 44 on my L100P.

 

https://www.facebook.com/instruments.crumar/photos/pcb.1569400096587140/1569398886587261/

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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Well spotted Dave! The spinet form is really interesting and reminiscent of the Yamaha Electones, many of which could be used to play VB3m. Price? The ghost is still there playing the top C!

 

Is this a mock up? I like the fact there is no external psu. Looks like 2 pin mains like the early Nords. Wonder what could be inside? Gemini maybe?

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I wanted to let folks know that the Roland UM-ONE-mk2 midi(5 pin) to usb interface works when connecting my ancient yamaha p95 digital piano to a 2016 samsung tab A (running android 7.0). The samsung has a nice 10 inch screen allowing for reasonable drawbar control of VB3m.

Am now thinking of finding an older samsung phone that could run VB3m and velcroing it to the p95 front panel....makes for a super compact setup! Thoughts on which samsung phone might work (I quickly tried an old samsung galaxy s5 but the audio was crackling)

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So I got this event tonight and I'm trying to decide what is going to be the main organ app, b3x or vb3m. I was slightly surprised that vb3m sounds better through my 65 fender deluxe (real one). B3x ain't bad but it sounds a little midrangy with a nasty scream that jumps out at A5. Yeah I know that is somewhat normal and desirable but this JUMPS OUT LOUD.

VB3M wins this round.

FunMachine.

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So I got this event tonight and I'm trying to decide what is going to be the main organ app, b3x or vb3m. I was slightly surprised that vb3m sounds better through my 65 fender deluxe (real one). B3x ain't bad but it sounds a little midrangy with a nasty scream that jumps out at A5. Yeah I know that is somewhat normal and desirable but this JUMPS OUT LOUD.

VB3M wins this round.

 

You can do a ton of editing in the Leslie and Amp stages in B-3X, way more than VB3m. I find it hard to believe you can"t get what you need out of B-3X â it"s superior in many ways. This comes from an admirer of, and former VB3 user in Mojo-land. I have downloaded and tried VB3m but other than a smaller footprint and lower price there is nothing that I can think to it"s advantage, if you already own B-3X.

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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So I got this event tonight and I'm trying to decide what is going to be the main organ app, b3x or vb3m. I was slightly surprised that vb3m sounds better through my 65 fender deluxe (real one). B3x ain't bad but it sounds a little midrangy with a nasty scream that jumps out at A5. Yeah I know that is somewhat normal and desirable but this JUMPS OUT LOUD.

VB3M wins this round.

 

You can do a ton of editing in the Leslie and Amp stages in B-3X, way more than VB3m. I find it hard to believe you can"t get what you need out of B-3X â it"s superior in many ways. This comes from an admirer of, and former VB3 user in Mojo-land. I have downloaded and tried VB3m but other than a smaller footprint and lower price there is nothing that I can think to it"s advantage, if you already own B-3X.

Yeah I'm sure I can dial b3x in. And it probably wins through a full range PA. But tonight I'm relying on a fender deluxe combo and funny enough vb3m sounds great right out of the gate through the fender and I was looking at a minimum couple hours of tweaking to get b3x to sound as good.

FunMachine.

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It's true that B-3x is generally a lot more customizable... but if VB3m happens to give you the sound you want out of the box, that's valuable, even if you could get the same out of B-3x with some effort. But as for me, I'm looking forward to trying it with my Nord C1 double manual, which would be a bit of a headache with B-3x because it would need another app to do drawbar translation. B-3x insists that all your drawbars (upper and lower) be on the same MIDI channel, while the Nord sends upper and lower drawbars on different MIDI channels (the same channels as its upper and lower manuals). VB3m directly supports that, B-3x doesn't. So that's something, too...

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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